zentronix: dubwise & hiphopcentric

Wednesday, January 21, 2004

MORE DIZZEE-NESS

Not talking Gephart's stunning fall. Oh yeah, Jon Stewart's line of the night, on John Kerrey: "They don't call him Mr. Excitement for--well, they don't call him Mr. Excitement."

Anyway, the time-killing topic at hand is Ben Williams sez critics don't know where to place Dizzee in relation to American rap. Resisting the snarky urge to say it's because they don't know how to, while not resisting the urge to beat this topic into the ground (because for us bloggerati Dizzee is so, you know, '03), let me float a few comparisons...

*"I Luv U" updates Ice Cube's "You Can't Fade Me" topically (you remember the aggravating track in which narrator imagines "kicking the bitch in the tummy"--another irresponsible lad not dealing well with the consequences of casual sex) with the dialogical method of "It's A Man's World" (tho the woman goes uncredited here, wow). A double-whammy. (Actually a triple if you figure in the college-girl turnabout thing of "Look Who's Burning Now" from DC.)

*"Sitting Here" recalls Nas's "Life's A Bitch"--life as a mask or a front, the strange in-betweenness of trying to detach from the street while having to engage it to survive, the feeling of time slowing down and speeding up at the same time, everything bad happening in John Woo slo-mo at the same time youthful innocence is stolen prematurely. (Plus there's AZ's oh-shit-I-got-the-mic-first enthusiasm which brings us to the next thought...)

*Rascal's delivery recalls young LL Cool J (or if less generous, MC Shan)--excitable, high-pitched, aggressive. Downside of this analogy: Britrap still awaits its Rakim.

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